Sonny Boy Products
at the

EGYPT CANDLE STORE

In 1996 i ran into an almost archaeological stash of incredibly great ancient
hoodoo good luck
stuff -- pre-zipcode through 1985 Sonny Boy Products
canned incenses and anointing oils, still for sale as new in the old, dusty Egypt Candle Store
in Oakland, California. The early ones were manufactured in Miami, Florida, the
post-zipcode ones in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is still in business,
but the proprietor of the store says, "You
can't get them no more." She sells the pre-zipcode items at the same prices charged for
contemporary Indio and Anna Riva products.

My friend Bob Beerbohm, whom i know through the comic book business, turned me on
to this store. He was listening to me rave about old
hoodoo products and labels
and, being a paper ephemera collector himself, he knew how difficult it is to
find these things. He told me that his ex-partner Nancy Turner, the mother of two
of his three children, is a
hoodoo
practitioner. He said he found out about this
when she brought home a bottle of
Follow Me Boy Oil
and he realized it was
meant for him...

Anyway, Nancy had grown up in East Oakland, California, and she always
patronized this particular shop, the Egypt Candle Store. Bob started
going there with her and conversing with the proprietor, an elderly
woman named Ms. Whyte, a Bishop in the Spiritualist Church. After
Bob and Nancy broke up, Bob never went back
(he moved to Nebraska, among other changes), but he volunteered to
drive me to the site, so we could see if it was still there after 10
years. It was -- but it was closed. We tried again about a month later
and it was open. It seems that Ms. Whyte had been in the hospital, but
one of her associates, another elderly woman named Betty, was keeping the place open for
her.

Despite a rather run-down exterior, the business was active and ongoing, with new
Lama Temple brand candles being delivered and customers in and out frequently.
Conjure work, called "consultation," was done on the premises. I saw one man
writing out a name many times on a piece of paper to give to Ms. Whyte,
presumeably so she could perfom a ritual involving the paper (it might be burned,
or it might be placed beneath a candle to be burned). If you buy a candle, Ms.
Whyte or Betty would dress it with one or more specially formulated oils,
according to its intended use. A few complete ritual kits dating from the 1970s
were for sale in the back, including "The Blue Penis." This
contained a blue penis-shaped candle, various oils, powders, and incense, and
instructions for use. The ritual involves stealing a man's "nature" so
that he cannot be unfaithful.

All that aside, for me the major charm of the store was the Sonny
Boy products that were still available as "new old stock."
Supplies of these items were limited, of course. As
they ran out, they were being replaced with brand new Indio and Anna
Riva products. I advised folks who were interested in
old stock labels to limit themselves to one of each item so that
others who come after them could enjoy the thrill of buying these
blasts from the past.

Of all the pre-zipcode Sonny Boy products i bought at the Egypt Candle Store, my
favourite is Sonny Boy's Special Brand Incense, depicting a 1920s-era telephone,
off the hook, with cryptic
Policy players' numbers
on the dial face! Shades of
Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson:

I just
Talked to my baby
On the telephone
She said,
"Stop what you're doin' and
Come on home"
I can't hold on;
I can't hold on too long --
I get a real good feelin', baby,
Talkin' to you on the phone.

Another couple of good ones: Sonny Boy's Alleged Lucky Dream Brand Brand [sic]
Remembering Incense, because it is so "brand conscious," and Sonny Boy's
Grandma's Lucky Hand Alleged Indian Grandma Brand Incense, because it is so
"Grandma conscious."

Although none of the new-old-stock Sonny Boy products i saw contained real
herbs, roots, or minerals, the Egypt Candle Store also had some
Papa Jim
oils that contained a genuine root or herb. "Papa Jim Court Case Root in
Oil," to give one example, contained shaved roots steeped in oil.
The label was typewritten and applied with scotch tape; the oil
itself had a lovely aroma.

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